Rail tongs



lily 14, 1931. F. F. ZAV\ATKA-Y RAIL TONGS Filed Dec. 3. 1929 j-INVENTOR & ATTORNEY Patented July 14, 1931 UNITED STATES FREDERICK F.ZAVATKAY, OF WIN STED, CONNECTICUT RAIL TON GS Application filedDecember 3, 1929. Serial No. 411.240.

This invention relates to rail tongs of the type employed for thehandling of rails in railway installation and trackwork. A primaryobject of the present improvements is .l to provide an improved tongconstruction of a design adapted for more safely handling 7 the railthan heretofore. 7

To this end the tongs of the present invention are provided with springor resilient means for engaging with the rail so as to retain thesupported rail and tong in proper relative position and therebyeliminate danger of slipping or releasing of the effective grip on therail and the chance of injury to the worker incident thereto. Theforegoing and other features and advantages of my present improvementswill be more fully understood byreference to the accompanying drawingswherein like ref sponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:.

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation showing an approved embodiment of thefeatures of my present invention wherein the tongs are formed for usewith a suitable crane.

Fig. 2 is a similar and partial view showing a desirable modification ofthe jaw portion in accordance with a further feature of my invention.

The improved rail gripping tongs of the present invention comprises thetwo bar or lever members 1 and 2 arranged in crossed over relation andconnected by the transverse pivot pin or bolt 3 having threaded on oneend a securing nut 4 suitably slotted to be engaged by the cotter pin 5passed through an aperture in the bolt end portion in the manner wellunderstood. The upper ends of the arms or levers 1 and 2, as shown infull lines, may be formed with the eyelets 7 for connection withsuitable flexible means, chain links 8 as here shown connected to alifting ring 9, adapted for connection with the lifting hook of ahoisting apparatus or crane. The device may be likewise formed as amanually operated tool in which case the levers at their upper endportions have outwardly bent handle extensions as shown in dotted linesin Fig. 1 which conforms to erence characters are applied to the corre-.

the general type of lever arrangement commonlyemployed in railroad use.

The lower endportions of the levers or bars are formed with the jaw"portions 10a'nd 11 of hooked contour below the plane of the pivot centerand of a formto jointly provide a pocket for the reception of a railhead and with theinwardly extending lower end portions ofthe jaws havinginner. surfaces.

conforming to the contour of the rail fishing during handling thereof.To this end, each of the levers is countersunk at its lower and innerside portion to receive the flattened upper securing portion of a. leafspring 12 having a curved and tapered lower end portion '13 positionedfor engagement with the upper surface of therail head as shown- Thepocket formed by the jaw members for the reception of the rail headportions is suitably enlarged vertically and laterally so as to allowclearance for the accommodation of rail heads of differ-en.- railsection and as will be readily understood; the curved end portions ofthe springs 13 will have a normal position determining that upon closingof the jaws upon the rail section the springs will 5 be compressed ormoved upwardly and in consequence exert a holding pressure upon therail. This will be effected automatically by reason of the engagement ofthe angular-' ly disposed surface 14 of the jaw with the fishing surfaceof the rail head which upon tightening of thejaws of the tongs causes arelative raising of the rail head with relation to the aw members.

The aw portions as shown, may desirably 9 be laterally I enlargedproportionate to the width of the coacting lever and spring with theupper inner surface 15 thereof curved and spaced to provide clearancefor the spring of the adjacent lever portion.

In ,Fig. 2, there is disclosed a desirable modified form of my inventionconforming generally to the structure as hereinabove described butwherein the jaw members are formed integrally with dependingsupplemental jaws or hooks16 which by reason of their greater spacedrelation to the pivot center are adapted for engagement with the baseflange portions of the rails thereby facilitating handling of the railsfrom inverted position.

There is accordingly provided a simple and eflicient tong or railgripping device form-atively adapted for handling of rails of variedsection while by reason of the action of the springs they are firmlysecured and retained withrelation tongs so as to materially reducedanger of slipping and result ing injury .to the workers.

While I have shown and described approved structural embodiments of myinvention, it will be understood that varied modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention as definedin theappended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. A gripping tong device oftheicharacter described comprising pivotally connected levers havinggripping jaw portions at their lower end portions, said jaws beingformedto jointly provide a pocket adapted to'receive the head portion ofa rail and a leaf spring attached to one of the levers and havingacurved lower end portion positioned within the pocket for engagementwith the :upper surface of the rail head for retaining of the effectivehold thereon.

2. A gripping tong device of the-character described comprisingpivotally connected le-' vers having gripping jaw portions attheir lowerends, said jaws being formed jointly to provide a pocket adapted toreceive *the head portion of a rail, leaf springs attached to the sideportions of the levers and 'having curved lower end portions positionedwithin the pocket for engagement with the rail head for retaining of theeffective'hold thereon.

3. A gripping tong device of the character described comprisingpivotally connected levers having gripping jaw portions at their lowerends disposed to opposite sides of the pivot center, said jaws beingformed jointly to provide a pocket adapted to receive the head portionof a rail and being formed with dependingsupplemental jaw portionsadapted 1for engagement with the base flange of a rai Signedat Winstedin the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut this 20th dav 0fJune A. D. 1929.

FREDERICK F. ZAVATKAY.

